Liberated Champions: Gain Of Trust
by Epsil0nCha0s
Summary: Part three of my Liberated Champions series, sequel to "Downfall Of A Legend". Continuing from their confrontation with Leader in Kanto, May and the gang travel back to Unova. With Leader using the legendary dragon Zekrom, they look to catch a legendary dragon of their own. And Leader's disciples struggle on supporting him with his mystery ambitions. Hinted advanceshipping
1. Chapter 1

**Gain Of Trust**

**CHAPTER 1**

**Previously in the "Liberated Champions" series...**

"I have plans for this world, but nobody but me and my partner know," Leader told them, crossing his arms.

"What?" Lexi asked, staring at Leader in surprise and confusion.

"So, this whole time...You've been lying to us...?" Krystal asked quietly, staring at Leader. He looked back at the group.

... ...

"Pikachu...Are you really choosing this as your fate?" the trainer asked, holding his fists at his sides. "After all of this...You're choosing to side with them, the ones who oppose us and continue to defend this incomplete world?"

"Pikapi! Chupi kapi chu!" the mouse shouted, the trainer's lips curling into a grin.

"Alright..." everyone looked shocked at the trainer, how could he agree to losing his starter pokemon? His best friend? "I respect your choice, being a pokemon...However, our past does not affect my battling."

"Ash, what are you doing! Pikachu was your first pokemon, he's your best friend!" Gary shouted, the trainer ignoring him as he stared down the mouse.

... ...

"Please, don't hurt Pikachu! He's only agreeing and doing what's right!" Misty called.

"Too bad I know his one weakness," the trainer stared at the mouse with a grin, the roar of thunder heard in the sky as the clouds dropped bolts of lightning. The black dragon burst from the clouds, floating down to the trainer and hovering above him, looking down at the mouse. "Zekrom, overload it," the mouse's eyes widened, the legendary dragon's body sparking with powerful bolts. The electricity suddenly struck the mouse, baring its teeth as it struggled to hold its ground from the powerful attack. Its cheeks began sparking, its eyes looking surprised, as it felt the electricity be absorbed into its body. The mouse grunted, stumbling to the side as it looked angrily at the dragon.

"Pikachu!" the mouse looked back and nodded, glaring at the trainer with its teeth bared.

"You may be fine now, but soon you will know the pain you have felt in the past," the trainer turned and began walking back, the dragon roaring at the group. "I'm afraid you will not enjoy the feeling, but from the multiple times in the past, I'm sure you won't be bothered."

... ...

"N," the man stopped, looking back. The trainer extended his arm, something sent towards him. He caught the object from Leader's hand, revealed to be an old and tattered paper. "Your friend dropped this in the hurry to escape, I felt if anyone this should be returned to you. I have looked it over briefly, but that language is unfamiliar to me. In your hands, I hope it can be deciphered and read again."

"But...Why?" the man asked, the trainer crossing his arms again.

"I felt that group needed a better chance. And with you deciphering the text, they will get it soon," he smirked, giving a nod. The man nodded, the two turning away from each other and walking in separate directions.

... ...

"What? You're leaving?" May gasped.

"I'm afraid so, we all know that I am no longer a match for Leader," the man stated, walking away from them. "I wish you luck in bringing down Leader and his plots."

... ...

"Look!" the boy followed her point, looking oddly at her wide eyes. His eyes settling in where her finger pointed, his eyes widened.

"What is it?" Brock asked, looking back at the siblings. They continued to point back, everyone following their point and gasped as their eyes widened.

Leader's minions had disappeared.

... ...

"Don't worry, we all got away without any trouble. The others split up and said they needed to think alone for a bit. I knew you would give your pokemon a rest before heading to Johto, so I was searching a little bit of everywhere," the boy explained, smiling.

"So, does that mean you're staying with me?" Leader asked, arching an eyebrow.

Of course, you could never do this without me," Jack replied, grinning.

"Bringing peace to the pokemon world...It must be done."

"The elimination of humanity."

... ...

"This script tells that the legend focuses on the two dragons, Reshiram and Zekrom," the group nodded, understanding. "But...It also depicts of something else."

"What do you mean, 'else'?" May asked, looking confused.

"Zekrom and Reshiram are the focuses of the legend, but this says there was something else...Involving a meteor."

"The meteor crashed into Unova as the dragons destroyed the land, and that's about the time when the two dragons stopped and disappeared."

"It crashed into Unova, but this meteor wasn't any ordinary meteor."

"Inside the meteor's core...Rested another dragon."

* * *

"Zekrom, Fusion Bolt."

"Nooo! Gyarados!" the dragon champion shouted, watching his prized pokemon fall to the ground motionless. The man across from him returned the legendary dragon, calmly walking across the battlefield and placing a hand on the gyarados' forehead. However, this pokemon had a different look than a _normal_ gyarados.

"Your friend here fights well, dragon master Lance," the man said, the dragon trainer gritting his teeth as he joined him beside his pokemon. He recalled it into his pokeball, looking at his opponent expectantly.

"And I know you recall the demands upon his victory," Jack stated, arms crossed behind his head beside Leader.

"I do...but why, Leader?" he asked, the man giving a light sigh as he looked at the roof.

"...Perhaps it's because this world is still incomplete...and we humans do not truly understanding pokemon, at all..." he trailed off, the Johto Champion clenching his teeth as he unclipped all of his pokeballs from his belt. His hands shaking, he released each of his pokemon. Permanently.

"I'm sorry, everyone..." he whispered, each of his pokemon weakly calling to him from their previous battles. Leader smirked, him and Jack turning and walking towards the doorway.

"I suppose we'll be taking another week-long break in Hoenn, then?" Jack asked, the man shaking his head.

"No, I just needed some time to let off steam from the encounter at the Indigo Plateau. Plus the switch-up to my team, considering Spiritomb could use a rest and the newly open slot for a sixth member," Leader stared ahead blankly, Jack knowing not to say anything.

"So who's all on your team now, anyway?"

"In due time, you'll see."

* * *

"Does everyone know the plan here?" Max asked, the others giving a nod. Currently, they were each riding on their flying-type pokemon and heading over the sea towards the Unova region. And as it slowly came into view, May's hand moved to the bracelet on her wrist, the brunette glancing down at the newly-embedded stone she had added to it in the past few days.

_"I should've resorted to this earlier...Just wait a little longer, Ash..." _she thought, thinking back a week ago, to the day they last saw him at the Indigo Plateau.

* * *

_Flashback_

_"Another dragon?" Max asked, confused._

_"Indeed. When this meteor crashed, it had landed just outside of Unova's Lacunosa Town, which created what is now known as The Giant Chasm. It is a treacherous place of harsh climates below zero," Drayden explained, everyone in the room paying close attention. "This had been during the time of Zekrom and Reshiram's great battle, bringing destruction upon Unova. However, the legend of these two dragons you know slightly differs from the truth."_

_"It's different? How?" Brock asked._

_"The legend you've probably heard before says that the two heroes calmed the dragons down, and they disappeared afterwards, right?" Iris asked, everyone giving a nod. "Well, that's not exactly true. They never did calm down the dragons."_

_"What?" May blinked in surprise._

_"There have been more artifacts found over the years, telling a different ending to the legend. The real legend says that the brothers were never able to control the dragons, and both sides disappeared into the area that's now known as the Giant Chasm. But the meteor hadn't crashed yet at that time," Iris explained. "So, when the meteor did crash, the dragon that was resting inside of it woke up and broke out, destroying the area in a flash freeze. But when the two brothers saw this dragon, they saw that its power matched that of Zekrom and Reshiram's. The two dragons noticed this too, so they decided to turn on the third dragon before continuing their fight with each other."_

_"So they defeated this dragon together?" Dawn asked, the two dragon trainers shaking their heads._

_"No. They fought together, but supposedly this dragon had actually overpowered the both of them. The details aren't exactly clear, so no one can really say what happened," Drayden said, crossing his arms. "However, it is certain that at this time, Zekrom and Reshiram disappeared. As did the two brothers. Nobody knows what happened to them, but a few years later, they found evidence of the two dragons taking on a form of hibernation or exhaustion."_

_"And what was that?" Max asked._

_"That was the Dark Stone and the Light Stone. They were supposedly found in two different locations, on the opposite sides of Unova, but I think that they may have originally been found together, in the Giant Chasm. Think about it," Iris told them, Brock crossing his arms._

_"That does make sense. If both dragons were defeated there at the same time, then they became the Light and Dark Stones at the same time and were probably found by the same person, but brought to two different locations in secret. And about the two brothers..." he trailed off, everyone understanding what he meant._

_"Well, the local rumors do say that the monster resting in the Giant Chasm comes out at night and eats people..." Iris rubbed her arm._

_"So the two brothers are gone, the two dragons become the Stones, and the fighting stops. And about the third dragon, it must be the monster resting in the Giant Chasm," Gary concluded, the two dragon trainers giving nods._

_"Then we have to go there and catch it!" Max exclaimed, the others gasping._

_"Are you crazy?!"_

_"What? If this dragon defeated both Zekrom and Reshiram, then it can do it again! Plus, we only need it to defeat one!"_

_"But if this dragon is that powerful, it's not gonna be close to easy to catch!"_

_"True, so we'll just have to bring our A-game," the boy grinned, pumping a fist. His sister chuckled, putting her hand on his head._

_"As stupid as my brother sounds...He's right. We've gotta go catch that dragon in order to beat Ash," she said, the mouse on her shoulder giving a nod. The others gave hesitant looks. _

_"Kapi chu..." Pikachu frowned, his ears dropping._

_"...If May's in, then I'm going too," Dawn added, flashing a smile. Slowly, one by one, everyone in the room agreed to the plan. "So it's settled then."_

_"Let's go find that dragon!"_

_"Pikachu!"_

* * *

"Present your proofs of victory," the guard said, Leader giving a smirk as he pulled out a small case with eight badges inside. "Very well, good luck, trainer."

"I won't need it," he stepped through the doorway and continued up the stairs, stepping into another battle arena room with a man standing across the battlefield.

"The name's Sidney, I specialize in dark-type pokemon! I hope you brought your best team, kid!" he shouted, tossing a pokeball and releasing his first pokemon.

"Don't worry, he only needs one for you!" Leader smirked at Jack's comment, unclipping the purple M-marked ball from his belt.

* * *

The girl frowned, giving another light sigh as she picked up a pebble, tossing it and watching it skip across the lake. She sat back into the park bench, resting her hand on top of her face as she leaned her head back. "What do I do now...?" she felt lost.

"So this is where you've been," the girl moved her hand curiously, surprised to see a familiar face smiling down at her. And another familiar face behind her, whose expression remained neutral.

"Krystal? Gina?" she asked, the girls giving a nod. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"It took a while, Lexi, I'll give you that," Krystal laughed, sitting beside her and tapping the bench opposite of Lexi, where Gina reluctantly sat as well. "The real question is, why do you look like you're stuck?"

"Well...I am, really, I mean..." she trailed off, looking into the sky. "...Leader was lying to us. All this time we've been helping him, working towards his dream, but it turns out he didn't think that at all! What am I supposed to think now?"

"Try to not think about it," Lexi looked at the girl, bewildered, surprised as she tapped two fingers against her chest. "And _feel_ it. What do you _feel_ you should do?"

"...I...I don't know..." she looked at the ground between her feet, unsure what to think.

"It's been a week now. You should have decided already," Gina said calmly, standing up and facing the girl. Lexi glanced up. "Are you, or are you not loyal to Leader?"

"...Well, I would still be loyal to him, but-"

"Then there's your answer. The moment we parted that day, I made up my mind that I was going to still support Leader no matter what. He took care of us, and he raised us like his own family," Gina told her, crossing her arms as she started walking away. "And every healthy family has lies."

"Well, you know how she is," Krystal laughed, standing up and holding her hands behind her back. "I'm going with her and supporting Leader, too. And I hope you do as well, Lexi, we'll always be family," she smiled, taking after the silver-haired girl. Lexi frowned, leaning back into the bench and staring into the sky again. She smirked.

"Why am I even hesitating right now?"

* * *

"So what are you thinking, Webb?" Mason asked, looking at his green-haired friend. The man gave a sigh as he looked into the sky.

"I'm thinking of going back to help him...But I'm not sure if I can, if I don't know _why_ I'm helping him..." he trailed off, rubbing between his eyes.

"Then we'll just ask him," Webb looked at his orange-haired friend curiously. "I've always been supportive of Leader, and I don't question his motives. If he used pokemon liberation as a cover-up for his real plans, then he must have a good reason. And I'm sure he'll understand if we ask him."

"...I guess that's true," he smirked, crossing his arms. "So you need any time to get ready?"

"I'm not like Lexi or Krystal, man," he laughed, grinning at the man. "Whenever you're ready."

"Then let's go."

* * *

"I've been expecting you," Leader and Jack glanced at each other impressed, looking back at the Hoenn champion calling out to them. "And if you think your plot will continue past here, then you're dead wrong."

"I like his sense of humor," Jack chuckled, Leader giving a smirk as he stepped into the trainer box.

"Then would you care to make this more interesting?" Leader pulled a pokeball from his belt, holding it in the air. "One pokemon each. First one unable to battle loses."

"...Very well!" the man tossed his own pokeball, releasing a steel four-legged spider. "Then I'll show you the true power of the Hoenn Champion, Steven Stone!" Leader looked at the pokemon carefully, then noticed something peculiar. A small stone attached to a brace around its leg. Looking over at Steven, he noticed a similar stone attached to a pin on his jacket. Leader smirked, reattaching the sphere to his belt and taking another.

"This just gets more and more interesting..." he said to himself, Jack giving a curious look as he watched him toss the sphere and release his pokemon. Jack looked surprised, seeing the familiar large fire-type dragon with a peculiar brace on its tail. Even more surprised, he watched Leader pull out a ring.

"Leader...is that...?"

"Yes it is, Jack."

"But...I thought you never wanted to resort to that?"

"Normally, yes. However," slipping the ring on, he watched the man across the field tap the pin on his chest, his pokemon becoming enveloped in a glowing sphere. Leader smirked. "Sometimes you have to play it their way," and with that, he tapped his ring, his own pokemon enveloped in a glowing sphere as well.

* * *

"I guess this is it," Max said, his feet hitting the ground. Everyone recalled their pokemon as they looked ahead at the long hike before them into the wilderness.

"They weren't kidding when they mentioned the dropped climate..." Dawn shivered.

"We should be glad they could give us that much information," Gary stated, crossing his arms. "So everyone knows what to do when we find the dragon?"

"Yep!" Max pumped a fist, a bracelet around his wrist with a shining stone embedded. Misty, Brock and Gary each wore similar ones as well. "I think it was a good idea for us to each go home and get these, we're gonna need them for the fight ahead of us."

"You're right about that," May replied, rubbing the stone in her own unique bracelet. The group started hiking, heading deeper into the cold air.

"Why do you think N left?" the silence was broken by Dawn, earning expectant looks from everyone. "Sorry, it's just that I don't really enjoy silence."

"...I don't know, Dawn, but I'm sure he had a good reason," Brock replied, the blunette giving a funny look.

"Well, he was still inside battling Ash after the building started to collapse, right? Since he was in there after we left, maybe he had a talk with Ash or something," she suggested, Gary stopping on the spot for a moment before continuing.

"That would make sense. Maybe Ash told him something that made him lose hope in fighting him," the researcher speculated, Misty giving a worried look.

"What if Ash has _more_ legendary pokemon other than Zekrom?!" she asked, the others beginning to feel uneasy.

"Guys, stop worrying," everyone looked confused at May. "Maybe Ash does have more legendary pokemon, or maybe not, he's gonna be really powerful either way. What we have to worry about is getting this dragon here, and making ourselves _just as _powerful as he is."

"I gotta say, May, I'm kinda impressed. You're the last one I expected to be thinking rationally in this situation," Max chuckled, earning a smack from her. The boy started to hang back, walking beside Brock a short distance from the others. "But aren't you curious about it, Brock?"

"About what?" Brock whispered, responding to the boy's hushed tone.

"You know, about Ash and May. Back in Unova, they were talking about when they kept their relationship a secret. Aren't you wondering about when this was, or how it happened, or why they kept it a secret?" he whispered, the man looking at the brunette ahead of them.

"I don't think we should worry about it. If they wanted to keep it a secret, I respect that," the man responded, the boy giving an unsure look. Meanwhile, said brunette was having doubts of her own.

_"Ash...why are you doing this...?"_ she thought, frowning as she pictured the once-caring boy she had grown to love. The two had gotten along so well, nearly inseparable, and ever since the two started dating they _were_ inseparable. They had decided not to tell anyone simply because they didn't want a spectacle made out of it. They knew that the public started rumors about famous figures, and with a wannabe-champion and pokemon coordinator becoming an item, they had just worried too much about what could happen.

"May? May!" the brunette snapped out of her thoughts, looking at her blue-haired friend. "Are you okay? You spaced out there."

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry," she flashed a smile, looking ahead and noticing they were nearing the top of the hill they were climbing. Upon arriving at the top, the group gasped at the sight. Standing at the top of the hill, the ground nearly disappeared ahead of them, sloping down into a fairly steep cliff. Max peeked over the edge, peering down and seeing a deep chasm of darkness with clouds of mist scattered through the area. They each looked ahead at the massive chasm spanning over a great amount of the area, they knew they had arrived at the Giant Chasm.

"Well, let's get looking."

**END**

**In case this may not have been clear before, related to the show, this series takes place after the Sinnoh arc so Ash has not traveled through Unova/Kalos. He may still have pokemon from these regions, but I am trying to keep the storyline before then because this is when I started this series. **  
**However, there is one exception I made involving **_**something**_** starting in Kalos. I made a few references to it in this chapter, so I'm sure you can figure it out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Gain Of Trust**

**CHAPTER 2**

"No way..." Steven uttered, shocked as he recalled his Metagross. Across the field, Leader's charizard reverted back to its normal look, disappearing into the light of its pokeball as well.

"Well, looks like my win, champion," Leader called out, stepping across the field with Jack close behind. "And since you knew I was coming, you know what I'm going to ask of you."

"...You know you won't get away with this," Steven said, hesitating before unclipping each of his pokeballs from his belt.

"Oh? And who is there to stop me? All that remains between me and the position of greatest trainer in the world is Cynthia," Leader smirked, Steven's grip tightening on his pokeballs.

"You defeated the rest of the champions so easily...?" Steven asked, the man giving a nod.

"Of course he did, and even if any Pokemon League winners or Frontier Brains in Kanto challenged him, he would still crush them," Jack added, arms crossed behind his head with a smirk.

"So, after you defeat Cynthia...What then? Issue a global release of pokemon?" the Hoenn champion asked, the pair giving a nod. "Then what? You know humans and pokemon will stay together, despite not being contained by pokeballs."

"We are aware of that, but that is not our real objective," Steven gave the pair a puzzled look, watching them walk away from him.

"Wait! Then what exactly _are_ you hoping to accomplish?"

"All I will tell you, Steven...is that the world will be much better off after we succeed."

* * *

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Max sighed, looking back up behind them. A rope was cast across the chasm upwards attached to a tree where they had started, then each of them had ziplined down the rope to the ledge they were currently on. Looking ahead of them, there was a large crack in the side of the cliff which acted as the doorway.

"Well, no time to waste," Gary said, the group stepping into the cave one by one. With Gary and Brock carrying flashlights, after moving through the narrow passageway, they flashed the lights around to see themselves in a large room. Flashing it across the cave's roof, high above them, they noticed spears of ice hanging down. "Careful, I'll keep an eye on those so they don't fall on us."

"Alright," Brock flashed the light around, looking for the continuation of their route. They moved from room to room carefully, Gary always flashing his flashlight at the ceiling to watch the large icicles.

"So, does anyone know if anyone has actually...you know, _found_ this dragon?" Dawn asked nervously.

"I can't say I've heard anything. There haven't been any maps drawn of this place, so maybe no one's even explored the full cavern yet," Gary said, the blunette getting more nervous.

"Or maybe someone has, but they found the dragon when it was hungry..." she said quietly, only May hearing her. The brunette put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Relax, no need to worry, right?" Dawn flashed a weak smile, then they stepped into the next room. However, this one was familiar.

"Hang on...This is where we started, isn't it?" Gary flashed his flashlight around, noticing a crack doorway with a bright light on the other side. Flashing it around the room, he noticed several doorways. "Oh, no...We've been going in circles."

"But how? We've been moving straight this whole time!" Max exclaimed, the others feeling nervous.

"We can't really say that for sure, it's not like a compass would work in here. It would probably freeze, or the metal in the walls will throw it off," Brock told him, the boy giving a frown. Gary looked at the roof again, counting the icicles.

"Hang on," everyone waiting, watching the man stare at the ceiling curiously. "...I think there's a system to the rooms."

"What are you talking about?" May asked, Gary gesturing to the ceiling.

"There's nine icicles on this ceiling," he told them, the others not understanding. "I've been looking at the icicles in every room, and I think there was another room with a different number of icicles."

"You think the rooms' layout are based on number of icicles?" Dawn asked, the researcher giving a nod. They moved to another room, Gary looking up at the ceiling and counting.

"This one's got seven," he said.

"So we missed a room? Shouldn't there be eight?" Max asked, the researcher pondering.

"Maybe...but I don't remember seeing a room with just one icicle..." he trailed off, wondering what this meant. Then something occurred to him. "If a compass won't work here, then maybe there is no sense of direction. Maybe you have to walk through each room in order."

"So if the first room had nine, then we have to find eight, then seven, and so on?" Dawn asked, Gary giving a shrug of his shoulders.

"What else do we have to go off of?" the others looked at each other hesitantly, then agreed. Moving through the rooms, they counted each icicle on the ceiling of each room, remembering it. Time seemed to pass slowly as they tried to follow this plan, taking multiple tries.

"There's three...But I don't remember where two was," Max groaned, rubbing his head.

"Does anyone?" everyone shook their heads, Gary feeling nervous. "So who feels lucky? If we mess this up, we'll have to start over again..."

"I think it's this way," May pointed to the doorway closest to her, everyone giving her a curious look. "I've been noticing the rooms have been getting colder as we get further."

"But there's less icicles? That doesn't make sense," Dawn said.

"Maybe the cold is just focusing on a smaller range. The first room had nine icicles and was chilly, and now in a room with three icicles it's actually _really_ cold," Max said, holding his arms close. Hesitating, everyone moved through May's suggested doorway.

"Fingers crossed..." Gary said, aiming his flashlight at the ceiling. Two icicles. He sighed in relief.

"Alright, so now where's one?" Dawn asked, Gary flashing his light around the room and noticing something at a certain doorway.

"I bet it's that way," he said, everyone looking at the doorway he had illuminated. Different from each other doorway, there was a single icicle protruding from the wall above the crack.

* * *

"So since we're going to Sinnoh, I take it you're going straight to Cynthia?" Jack asked, Leader pausing for a moment as the pair rode on their flying-types.

"...No," the younger man looked at him confused. "I think we should take a break. We'll head to Sinnoh, but I think we should look at something before going to Cynthia."

"And that is?" Jack inquired.

"Celestic Town. To see the local ruins," Leader replied, the younger man arching an eyebrow.

"Doesn't that depict the legend of Dialga and Palkia, along with the three lake guardians? What business do we have there?" he asked, Leader shook his head, his eyes narrowing on the Sinnoh region coming into view ahead.

"There's more to that legend than meets the eye, same with those ruins."

* * *

"So this is it?" Max asked, looking around the fairly smaller room. The group had finally reached the final room, looking above to see one massive pillar of ice looming above them with an almost-mystical glow inside at the base. Looking around, they noticed there was nothing else. "There's no more doors, it's a dead end."

"Maybe that counting method wasn't what we had to do, after all?" Dawn suggested, giving a sigh as she crossed her arms tightly. "Not to mention it's _really_ cold in here..."

"Here," the blunette was surprised to feel something wrap around her, noticing Gary stepping past her and putting his hand against the wall. She glanced back to see his own jacket around her, leaving the man with just a t-shirt. "This ice...This stuff never melts, it's almost as if it's frozen with the molecular structure of steel."

"So you're saying there's _steel_ in this ice? Well that's safe, and no wonder this place hasn't melted yet," Brock stated, putting his hand to the wall and yanking it back. "Jeez, how are you still touching that? It feels like that alone could give you frostbite."

"But it won't. See?" the researcher pulled his hand back and showed it to the man, revealing no redness or signs of frostbite at all. "This may be ice, but it lacks basic molecular structure found in ice. It's weird, it looks exactly like ice in every physical way, except it's _not_ somehow..."

"Okay, thanks for the science lesson, but what's your big solution on what we do? And it's not like the dragon can be hiding behind these walls, unless it's a baby dragon," Max said, Gary giving a sigh as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"Ice that never melts...Doesn't give you frostbite, and the temperature remains below zero no matter what...I just don't understand this," he sighed again, rubbing his eyes. "This shouldn't be possible. There's no way that a small room like this can contain ice that can't melt, no matter how cold it is. It's like an electric oven can't produce heat without electricity."

"Electric oven..." May pondered to herself, staring up at the ice pillar above them, focusing on the seemingly-glowing coming from the base. "...What if this room is like an electric oven, but the opposite?"

"What do you mean? Dawn asked.

"An electric oven can't produce heat without an energy source, in this case electricity, right?" they nodded. "So, say this room can't produce cold temperatures without an energy source either, but it's not electricity."

"But what source could constantly produce energy without stopping? There's nothing here that never cha-" Gary stopped, looking at the brunette in surprise. "The ice..."

"So the ice produces these temperatures, given how it never melts. And maybe it's the same situation with the ice, whatever produced it in the first place is the only reason it's able to stay," she explained, her younger brother raising his arm.

"Okay, question. What's been here since _before_ the ice? As far as local history goes in Lacunosa Town, this cavern has always been frozen over as long as it's been here," the young boy stated, activating a lightbulb in the researcher's head.

"But think of how long this cavern has been here. Remember what Iris and Drayden said, the Giant Chasm was never actually discovered until the meteor touched down here."

"So the meteor created and sustained these frozen caverns? Then that would mean the meteor was really like an iceberg-"

"Hang on, that script they deciphered never said anything about the dragon _itself_, did it? Like its powers or physical shape?"

"No, not really...But if what we're thinking is correct, then the dragon must have been able to withstand the most extreme frigid temperatures. Or maybe even the meteor wasn't frozen at all."

"That's it..." everyone looked at May. "The meteor is the most likely option to have created these caverns, yes. But say the meteor wasn't frozen over. That would leave only one other possibility."

"The dragon _itself_ was frozen! So the dragon froze the meteor, then when it crashed into this area, it gave off a sort of pulse of frozen energy, flash-freezing the caverns as soon as they were formed! With the amount of force from the impact, mixed with the power of that dragon, that would explain how this ice was able to freeze and condense so strongly, and why it's never melted!" Brock exclaimed, the researcher giving a nod.

"That does make sense...But that still leaves one question. Where is the dragon now?" everyone looked around, unable to answer the question. "Given that _is_ how this cavern was created and maintained, as logical as it is, there's no explanation as to how this dragon remains in this area unseen. The legend says the dragon rests in the Giant Chasm, but we've been through every room and haven't seen a clue of where it could be hiding."

"He's right. As far as we know, the answer to where this dragon is right now could be right over our heads," Dawn said, May giving a quiet sigh as she crossed her arms and stared at the frozen walls in thought.

_"She's right, it just doesn't make sense...If the rumors say that the dragon eats people who come into this cavern, then it can't be behind the walls because they've never melted..."_

"Aaaggh, why are there so many riddles?! Why can't they ever just have some way of pointing you in the right direction, like in the movies?!" Max groaned, his sister smirking.

_"I wish it were that easy...Just the slightest sign, to show us the w-...The way..." _May looked up, her eyes focusing on the very clue they were searching for. The single ice pillar. _"A single clue...to point the way..."_

"May? Did you think of something?" Brock asked, noticing the peculiar expression of the brunette. She looked at him, then at the ground, lightly stomping her feet on the ground where she stood. No sound. "Did you?"

"It's like Max said. We need that one clue to point us in the right direction," she said, stepping forward and stomping again. The slightest echo.

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked, the brunette pointing up. Everyone looked at the ice pillar, the truth dawning on them as May stepped forward again, standing in the center of the room and bringing her foot up.

"Are you saying...?" Max started, his sister giving a nod.

"That ice points the way," and with that, the brunette brought her foot down and releasing a peculiar echo through the small room. Distinct cracks ripped through their ears.

Then the ice collapsed beneath May.

**END**

**And there you go. Might I add, I **_**hate**_** winter. It's not that I can't handle the cold, it's just that I don't like it. Anyway, cheers.**


End file.
